CHARLIE COINER, former Dooley-era UT football assistant coach, is back in Knoxville and working with developers at Austin's Workhorse Marketing on V2.0 of a football play design and analytics platform he calls FirstDown Playbook. The update is to be unveiled in January. The offering is from Coiner's 1st Down Technologies LLC, a sports software company. The platform has been in the works since 2015. It has 5,000 customers and Coiner's team numbers a half-dozen, most still in Austin. Coiner told VNC the company is currently funded by the founder along with some friends-and-family money. Coiner's attorney is Forest Hamilton of Brentwood. Coiner's LinkedIn.

A. Yazdian

NASHVILLE-based Afshin Yazdian JD, most recently president of Priority Payment Systems' Core Acquiring unit -- and earlier EVP/GC at iPayments Inc. alongside serial payments entrepreneur Greg Daily (now in i3 Verticals) -- just got another ticketpunch through an M&A transaction that leaves him still in Nashville, in a key role with Alpharetta-based Priority Technology Holdings (Nasdaq:PRTH).

JUMPSTART Capital in Nashville confirms that Josh Schwartz is now a General Partner. Schwartz's earlier career included exec roles with WebMD, Deloitte, E&Y, HealthGrades and others. He has a hand in the firm's dealflow development in the southeast, from his base in Atlanta. Coverage of JSCap and its Growth Fund I (target $30M-$50M) is here.

► [Updated 6 Aug] TRANSPARENCY Health, Chattanooga, is a new investment firm that aims to help healthcare tech firms grow. It says it is backed by a $30MM commitment from Chattanooga-based Noon Development, which says its own operation is focused mainly on real estate, including healthcare RE. Note: Founding Partner David Paschalltold VNC 6 August 2018 that the firm made its first investment in Utilize Health, led by founder Jessica Harthcock.-Ed.

UNUM Group (NYSE:UNM) and The Company Lab, both in Chattanooga, announced they'll collaborate "to support the small, more nimble companies that will drive change in our industry" by collaborating to apply entrepreneurial thinking and advanced problem solving to health and wellness opportunities..." Research by Mike Bradshaw, et al, on CoLab's role in the local entrepreneurial ecosystem notes Unum as a significant players, along with UT-Chattanooga and others. Report here. CoLab stories here and here.

P.B. Stanton, a Brentwood-based advisor for some crypto and blockchain undertakings, is shown as chief legal officer for EZ Exchange Ltd. (a Malta entity with CEO in Toronto), which is apparently prepping "a blockchain token sale" with an undisclosed target, which proceed ICO and other offerings, including access to a crypto-investing "academy." The SEC filing is here.

Dawn Jutla

TWO BLOCKCHAIN startups recently signed partnership MOUs on undisclosed terms with the FedEx Institute of Technology (FIT) at the University of Memphis: DexFreight, led by CEO/CoFounder Rajat Rajbhandari PhD of Miami; and, Peer Ledger, led by Halifax-based Dawn Jutla. FIT said, "dexFreight is an open source logistics platform built on blockchain technology and machine learning that helps improve supply chain collaboration and promote more efficient shipping. Peer Ledger creates and hosts blockchain applications in the automotive manufacturing and healthcare sectors." Related Venture Tennesseecoverage here. Note: FIT is also a player in launch of Communitech, an innovation research park in Memphis' emerging University District, HighGround story here.

► THE FAMILY WASH owner Mitchell Fox apparently still anticipates reopening the live-music and dining hotspot, and may be prepping for a recap and enhancements for the venue at 626 Main Street in East Nashville. The FW operated 2002-2015 in a fabled converted landromat (home since then to VinylTap, a taproom). Fox's LinkedIn reflects his decades in Music management of major talent, and his more recent interest in technology plays. FW Yelp entry. Related VNC coverage.

IQuity, an integrated data-sciences company in Nashville, said it has added to its bench healthtech advisors Ray Guzman and Damian Mingle, both previously with WPC Healthcare, which recently sold to Intermedix. IQuity, led by CEO Chase Spurlock PhD, recently launched a new data analytics platform. Previous VNC coverage here.

► AMPLION Communications President and CEO Frank Grant announced the company has named Lee Clark to be chief technology officer. Clark earlier held key roles with Dell, Edgenet, Emdeon (now Change Healthcare) and Microsoft. Clark's LinkedIn is here.

► NY&NASHVILLE-based Gun.io announced its push for partnerships with agencies and dev shops, and its recent acquisition of Nashville software shop Centresource. Gun.io offers to collaborate in various ways with talent shops, including absorbing individual agencies or shops. Earlier VNC coverage of Gun.io.

APPELLO Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Vanderbilt University in June announced VU had licensed to Appello novel compounds developed within the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery (VCNDD here) for advancement of treatment of Parkinson's disease. $10 NY-based Michael J. Fox Foundation and Nashville-based Atticus Trust previously supported the VCNDD work. NYC-based Deerfield Management and Nashville's Mountain Group Capital (MGC) are among Appello investors in a $10.5MM Series A. MGC Co-founder Joe Cook Jr. is now Appello's executive chairman. Appello registered in Delaware in February 2017 and in Tennessee on July 9, 2018. Coverage of related commercialization issues here.

► PATHWAY Health Partners, known 2002-til-now as eDoc4U, says it has rebranded its wellness-services support platform. It has long been held by ConduIT Corporation, a Nashville commercial startup incubator led by Ray Capp and Mike Hassell. Related VNC coverage here.

THE WOND'RY at Vanderbilt University will soon announce Corporate sponsors for the 3rd cohort of its Innovation Garage, which has student innovators address corporate challenges. Accenture has been a sponsor the past two years. VU students (sophomore or above) must apply for consideration by Aug. 15. A 10% applicant acceptance rate is noted on the site.

►LESSONS: More on RootsRated, a once celebrated B2C Chattanooga-based outdoors media platform, which has relocated to Atlanta. It now aims to be a B2B vertical agnostic software and content white-labeler. More here.